Libel laws and Social Media’s flaws — how to avoid the pitfall
You’re upset, you call someone a derogatory name and in the process send a card to their home and work. The derogatory label is expressed on the back of the card delivered by a post woman. If what you’ve said is false then you effectively have libelled them.
The post woman in this process is important. She constitutes a third person seeing this remark. It doesn’t matter whether she read it, it’s the potential she may have.
This was how libel was described to me in my lectures to become a journalist. Whether your a journalist or not in the UK libel and defamation laws protect individuals from false statements and damaging their reputation.
That’s the next test. Having a reputation and if there is a shred of evidence the false claims could be contested, then welcome to the UK’s expensive libel trials.
Social Media today is awash with the news from a newspaper’s allegations around a high profile BBC Presenter and a 17-year old. Various problems arise from here.
Firstly, several users on social media have taken to actually pointing the finger at BBC presenters. That’s libel right there and the costs could set you back.
The case that should have set a standard for how Social Media users should be aware of libel laws was in 2012. Then a Lord McAlpine was falsely linked to child abuse claims and sued 1000 of twitter users written up here, including some high profile names.
Secondly, the thing with libel is ignorance is no defence and treading carefully is needed. If you end up tweeting something libellous, then you fall foul of libel laws. Saying, well I just retweeted doesn’t cut it.
Hence take the present BBC story. The newspapers have made a number of allegations. Repeating those allegations, and that’s what they are, if they’re eventually contested and found to be false it could result in those reporting the story culpable of libel.
The position a newspaper can often make in falsely accusing or providing a misleading statement on a public figure is weighing up public interest, and sometimes being prepared to take a hit, if they get it wrong. In the latter case you’ll likely be aware of several newspaper-public trials potential libel trials over the years.
New UK privacy laws must also be taken into account at this stage with the BBC story.
Libel laws, though they look plain enough are a minefield so it’s best to stay clear of them. Many people may take the view of a cease/ desist or retracting a remark. That sometimes works. But as we’re about to find out several people on twitter will start to receive letters from law firms this week.
